Velcroman1 writes: For 130 years, the kilogram has weighed precisely one kilogram. Hasn't it? The U.S. government isn't so sure. The precise weight of the kilogram is based on a platinum-iridium cylinder manufactured 130 years ago; it's kept in a vault in France at the International Bureau of Weights and Measures. Forty of the units were manufactured at the time, to standardize the measure of weight. But due to material degradation and the effects of quantum physics, the weight of those blocks has changed over time. That's right, the kilogram no longer weighs 1 kilogram, according to the National Institute of Standards and Technology. And it's time to move to a different standard anyway. A proposed revision would remove the final connection to that physical bit of matter, said Ambler Thompson, a NIST scientist involved in the international effort. “We get rid of the last artifact."

I suppose an important step in transitioning the US to the metric system is first ensuring that there is some aspect of the system which is imperfect. Surely metric has failed to catch on in part because it is not ridiculous enough for Americans (scientists notwithstanding)

Are you kidding? Ounces and pounds were way a head of the time and are becoming even more useful with the advent of computer systems and the common use of base16.

16 ounces in a Pound is not just coincidence.

F=15 ounces
10 = a pound

We can all agree, I am sure, it's easier to look at 89 and go, 8 pounds 9 ounces. With metric I have to keep moving the decimal place around and remember how many 0s there were in huge words like kilogram, milligram, centigram.